A dog barked in the distance. A boy giggled as he tossed pebbles into
a babbling stream below. Other than that, the Jordan Woods Natural Area
in the Cedar Mill neighborhood was fairly quiet noon Tuesday.

The trail was funded by the $100 million bond measure passed by voters in 2008. The budget for the project was nearly $1.7 million, but the estimated final cost of the new trail and amenities is $1.3 million.

Source: Bob Wayt, THPRD

Jim Rowden was walking the
trail with his two-year-old son Connor. Rowden plans to purchase a
house nearby, and said he loves the new path. They’ve already visited
several times.

“It’s awesome,” he said. “It’s probably one of the cooler things we’ve discovered.”

Though the first quarter-mile of the path, which
begins near the Jackie Husen Park at 10955 NW Reeves St., is paved, it
turns to gravel as it winds down the ravine.

This unpaved part of
the trail features two pedestrian bridges, one over Kitchen Creek and
one over the larger Cedar Mill Creek. And these bridges are Connor’s
favorite parts of the trail, because he likes peering through the bridge
slats and tossing small rocks into the creek. After the bridges, the
unpaved portion of the path leads up to a second trailhead at Lost Park
Drive.

Though the trail is rarely busy, Rowden suspects that will
change as more people learn about it. In addition to the bridges, the
new trail also features a rock outcropping that looks out over the
ravine.

Benches fashioned from logs dot the quarter-mile paved
portion of the path, and rock shoring holds up the hillside. The
designers chose to use this type of shoring instead of the typical
concrete blocks because it will allow moss, brush and other plant matter
to grow through it and over it, eventually hiding the rocks and wiring.

Up off the trail, near the Jackie Husen playground, two mothers and their children picnicked after exploring the new path.

Liane
Sumida Gill lives nearby, and she and her son have been to the park
three times since the new trail opened, she said. Gill said she
appreciates the paved surface – it meets Americans with Disability Act
accessibility requirements and it’s bicycle-friendly. This was a big
selling point for her son.

The Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District will celebrate the opening of the trail in conjunction with Nature Day in the Park from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday at Jackie Husen Park.

Anne
McCauley, a mother of three, said the path makes her feel like she’s
out in nature. Though it was McCauley’s first time at the park, she said
it wouldn’t be her last.

“Now that I know it’s here, we’ll come here more often,” she said.

McCauley
said people of all ages seem to frequent the improved park: From
families with young children to people walking their dogs and retirees
exercising.

Bob Wayt, communications director for the Tualatin
Hills Park & Recreation District, said the new trail is a huge
improvement.

“It’s beautiful,” he said. “That area previously had
unmaintained and unpaved trails, whereas now, you have a really nice
trail that’s ADA accessible and leads you right down to this beautiful
natural area. The contrast between the old and new is pretty
pronounced.”

--Anna Marum

A previous version of this story misstated Connor Rowden's age. He is two years old.